Mark's Musings

My work is done here

2006-12-13T18:01:00.000-06:00

I've decided to discontinue this blog and move to a new home. Some of you may recognize the place, others will not.

Ugh

2006-11-26T15:46:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

I worked 68 hours last week, 20 of that will be paid at the holiday rate of double time and a half. So even though I didn't participate in a family gathering only to watch my Lions lose, next payday will make up for it.

This week I'm working 72 hours. It's another effort to build up some cash for the holidays and a snowmobile trip I've got planned in two weeks. There isn't any snow on the ground right now, but hopefully that will change.

Pretty soon a group of new hires will complete training and start on the job training. I only mention it because then I won't be considered one of the FNG's any more. Soon there will be a new group to pick on!

Playstation Mania

2006-11-18T02:40:00.000-06:00

I figured I'd add to the list of blogs about the release of Playstation 3.

Enjoy the pain of one unlucky guy from Wisconsin.

Eh, you know: this and that.

2006-11-18T01:43:00.000-06:00

I'd be lying if I said that I've been too busy to blog. I'd be telling you the truth if I said that I just haven't felt the motivation to do so.

The wintertime is by far my favorite time of the year. I like the crisp, clean, cool air. I really like the snow and the prospect of snowmobiling (ski-dooing in Canada?)

At any rate, I've been a busy guy outside of the blogging world. I purchased a snowmobile from my dad:

I also felt the urge to match, should we ever have enough snow, so I picked up a new jacket and bib combo. Still thinking about a new helmet too.

All combined, its a pretty decent expense so I've been pulling some extra hours at work. Normally I'll come up with a little ditty while I'm sitting at work not doing much, but we've found a new website to entertain ourselves with. The countdown is on for the day IT blocks our latest form of amusement.

So the elections are over and I couldn't be happier. We have about a year and half until the political ads start back up. It's really no surpise that the Republicans lost the majority. I just feel sorry anyone who may have voted for a particular candidate simply because they we're affiliated with George W. Bush. Hopefully you know where your candidate stands on other issues because in 2 years we'll still be in Iraq and Bush will be wrapping up his Presidency. I can't lie though, I'm hoping for another revolution in 2010 or 2012. I cannot relate to anyone who sits in a position of power it seems. Clean them all out and start over.

That's really all I've got for today, and possibly this week. I'm working 6 in a row, ending on the morning after Thanksgiving. I hope everyone takes the time to say a little thank-you for the things they appreciate most. I was tempted to do a Veteran's Day post, but you either appreciate them or you do not. Can't really sway the masses and I don't have the energy for it anyway.

Me? I'm going to thank some cheerleaders.

We is some stupid folks

2006-11-02T02:54:00.000-06:00

Fuck you John Kerry. Your "joke" wasn't taken out of context.

If I ever see you, I'll shove a ketchup bottle up your ass.

Memory Lane, and Ramen Noodles

2006-10-25T22:26:00.000-05:00

I think Ramen noodles are a primary food source for soldiers, and perhaps, college students. But I've never done a study on it.

Back in my days as a Military Police Officer I would keep a constant supply of Ramen available for those days when I was either: broke, lazy, or broke and lazy. It's cheap and easy to make, not to mention it's not the worst thing you could be eating.

It was the end of August 1997, and I was roughly three months removed from Basic Combat Training. All summer our unit had been sending a 3 man team to patrol the Lake Ozark Recreational Area (LORA). LORA is an area away from the military installation where you could go to fish, boat, jet ski, or just relax in general. As Military Police Officer's there was always some confusion as to what are real authority was up there. Were we on military property? Did we have the same powers that we have on Post? Nobody could really give us definitive answers, but really all we were there for was to create a presence, keep the peace , and call for civilian backup if necessary.

As it turns out, our platoon was assigned the duty for the week leading up to, and the weekend of Labor Day. I've been angling for this assignment from the first day I had heard about it. As an 18 year old male, who wouldn't want to experience something like Party Cove?

So of course I draw the last weekend of the season. Send the new guy when the weather has turned cold and the bikinis are put away until next year. My experience at LORA initially included a lot of Playstation games and eating Ramen noodles. Our first day at LORA was great. The temps were in the middle 70's and the sun was shining. I woke up the next day and it was about 35 degrees and raining. It stayed like that the rest of the week.

Typically when the weather changes that quickly, I seem to catch a cold or some other ailment, and this particular week was no exeption. It started out with some mild aches and pains and progressed into severe headaches and the inability to keep any food down. My diet consisted of water and Ramen noodles. Each day I'd spend less and less time awake, and more time laying in bed praying for a meteor to land on me. I figured I was getting the flu. Being a good soldier, I toughed it out the best I could.

When our duty was over we arrived back on Post and turned in our gear - and I immediately went back to the barracks to get some rest. Each day I felt darker and darker, like something was covering me from head to toe. I had never been that sick before and something just didn't feel right. I literally felt like I was dying from within. The next morning my roommate took me to the hospital and I was given a series of mobility and dexterity tests, and I failed each one miserably, all the while the doctor is giving me no feedback and only muttering to himself.

The doctor left the room for a little while and came back with a mask for me to wear. I asked him if he knew what was wrong with me, and he said he didn't know. I asked him if I was going to die, and he said he didn't know. I'm nearly having a panick attack now and I'm not accepting "I don't know" for an answer, so he tells me you may have menengitis.

I should've kept my mouth shut. I should've never asked. When my younger brother was 6 months old, he contracted menengitis and nearly died from it. I've been living with the symptoms for a good 7 days now and I'm thinking I'll be dead at any moment. I was wheeled to the Emergency Room because apparently the only person capable of doing a spinal tap was working down there that particular day.

I'm not sure if any of you have had a spinal tap or not, but I'm here to tell you it's a very painful experience. Since it's par for the course, I received the daily double - the local anaesthetic I was given didn't work and the Doctor performing the procedure was leading an intern field trip, so I had about 20 people watching. I have absolutely no problem admitting that I cried like a little baby the entire time, and I nearly squeezed my Squad Leader's hand into a ball of mush.

As it turns out I had contracted Viral Menengitis, not Bacterial Menengitis and I would live. I also never got around to going to the hospital until I was beyond the worst of it and made a pretty quick recovery.

The point of this story is that I haven't had Ramen noodles since, and I never will. Every time I think about eating them, or see anyone else eating them I start to get a headache and backache all at the same time. Irrational? Yes, but it's my thing.

I've got nothing.

2006-10-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

I really wish that I had something ~~inspirational~~ to pass on, but you know - sometimes that's just how it is.

I guess I'm waiting for my own personal version of the October Surprise. Or something.

Anxiously awaiting my new boots for work. The fact that they are on backorder for 3 weeks doesn't sit well with me.

We had our Force-On-Force drills last week and that went well for the team and for me personally. Wish I could elaborate, but I cannot.

Anyone who reads this entry should go check out Aggie. She'd appreciate it.

Memo to the people of New York City:

2006-10-13T06:56:00.000-05:00

You're not the only people who live in this country. No matter how sophisticated or special you may feel, you'll never be the only people to experience tragedy.

Show some respect for a dead man and quit whining about aircraft flying around your city.*

* I feel okay saying this. I used to live in an area most likely targeted with nuclear weapons and work at a pretty desirable terrorist target.

Another Busy Week.

2006-10-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

There is snow in the forecast this week. Those who know me will understand how I feel about this. Those who don't can do a Google search for "aroused" (turn OFF the filter though. thanks). I'm a little disappointed that our daytime temps will get well above freezing - meaning any snow we do get will just be a tease.

All of the physical testing is done at work. Some will be sad to know that I do not have to get sprayed with pepper spray again.

This week our plant will be conducting annual Force on Force (FOF) training. You can learn more about FOF here, but essentially what it's a mock attack to test the effectiveness of both the security force and our security plan. Any day you get to shoot your rifle is a good day, so it should be a fun learning experience.

2006-10-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

Some of my frequent readers may remember this post, detailing the physical fitness test I was required to take when I was hired for my job.

The powers-that-be decided it wasn't an accurate enough test and scrapped it in favor of a new test:

Sitting to standing position
Run 50 yards in full gear
Simulate opening doors (pull 30lbs twice)
Run 50 yards in full gear
Simulate opening doors (pull 30lbs twice)
Run 50 yards in full gear
Simulate opening doors (pull 30lbs twice)
Run 50 yards in full gear
Simulate opening doors (pull 30lbs twice)
Run 50 yards in full gear
Simulate opening doors (pull 65lbs twice)
Climb one level of the tower and communicate location

Course must be completed in 2:20.

"Full Gear" includes a bullet-proof vest, 9 rifle magazines, 3 pistol magazines, a pistol, and a few other items. My weight plus the gear puts me just under 300 lbs.

The way things are set up now, you have up to 3 chances to pass the test. If you fail all 3 attempts, you'll be fired. There is no longer an alternate run that you can attempt instead. I took the test on Monday and passed with a time of 1:55. I probably could've had a better time. I didn't really push it too hard because there is no incentive to get the best time possible, you just have to pass. Looking back on things, I'm glad the test has been changed. I never want to do that run again.

In other news, I've spent the last few weeks at the race track. I haven't mentioned it because the racing that we do is a pretty much unknown to people outside of the midwest and hasn't been a popular topic on the blog, but I thought I'd post a picture. We run a 3 state circuit, and as of right now our team has a comfortable lead in 2 classes and we are going to finish 5th or 6th in two other classes.

Here's me at the starting line, waiting for the green light:

Stealing, because I can.

2006-09-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

My buddy Derek posted this clip on his blog the other day. Normally I'd just link to his post (which I just did) but I thought it was too funny to pass up.

Smirnoff Raw Tea Partay!

Dodging the bullet, so to speak.

2006-09-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

School attack plan detailed

Green Bay teens had 20 bombs, 10 guns, police say

Green Bay - Two high school seniors are accused of plotting to blow up their Green Bay school in a Columbine-style attack that would have begun with hiding guns in the ceiling tiles. They would set off bombs in the bathrooms, then grab the guns and shoot classmates they didn't like. Students who tried to leave the building would be stopped by homemade napalm burning at the doors. When the police arrived and surrounded them, the two boys would commit "suicide by cop."

As Paul Harvey would say, and rest of the story.

It worries me to think what High School will be like when my children get there..

Ahh, the good old days.

2006-09-14T06:32:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this before? I'm sure some of you have, but I never did until last month when it made the email circuit at work. More info is available at Snopes concerning it's validity. If it's unreadable on your computer, click the image and enlarge it. Sure to ruffle some feathers out there!

THE GOOD WIFE'S GUIDE

Fatigued

2006-09-08T02:35:00.000-05:00

You know, it's getting to the point where I don't watch the news on television or check it out on the web anymore. There was a time when I considered myself a news junkie and was pretty well versed on the happenings around the world.

Some people don't watch or read the news because they don't want to fill their mind with all of the violence and negativity around the world. I can understand that, but I've always accepted it as one of those "things" that is part of our society. The reason I've been shying away from the news is twofold: The mid-term elections are coming and that means a nonstop blitz of campaign ads. I consider myself to be "conservative" on most issues and I'm totally disappointed in the Republicans. They'll probably lose everything this fall and they only have themselves to blame. I'm not excited about the prospects of government controlled by Democrats either. For everyone that will scream about fascism on the right, you can make the same claims about the borderline communist attitudes of the current DNC leadership.

The bottom line is that the Democrats will ride the "we're not George Bush" bandwagon all the way to power, having fooled most people along the way. Before you vote for anyone on any side of the isle please make sure you know where they stand on issues, not where they claim not to stand. I am definitely not looking forward to this political season.

I'm equally pissed about the Progressive Messiah know as William Jefferson Clinton. Seems Bubba's a little angry about this new ABC miniseries coming out about 9/11. Lets just cut to the chase with two points:

1. Every president from Reagan to George W. Bush could've done more to prevent terrorist attacks on U.S people and property. This includes Clinton. He had his hands full with domestic scandals the entire time he was in office and he could've done more to handle Bin Laden.

2. Why is it okay for one side to be represented but not the other? Everyone was told to rush and watch Fahrenheit 9/11 because it was the "truth" about Bush's failures in office. Now Clinton gets a taste of the same medicine and all of a sudden its a fabrication or terribly wrong? And we're also forgetting it's supposed to be a dramatic account which means they are going to fill in the holes in dramatic ways.

I saw a quote today in reference to this ABC thing, and I couldn't help but chuckle:

Free speech for me, but not for thee -The motto of the "liberal" Left.

Chad Vader Part 3

2006-09-04T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest installment of Chad Vader. The plot thickens..

Time for an update, I suppose..

2006-08-27T19:07:00.000-05:00

In the comments to my last post I made a brief mention that I've recently moved.

I found a pretty nice deal at a cheap price that fits perfectly for the moment, but it isn't without it's drawbacks. I'm still waiting to get internet there, and that's probably the biggest source of my frustrations at the moment.

PROS:

1. What was once a 50-55 minute drive is now about 4-5 minutes.
2. Because of the shorter drive I'm saving a ton on gas money.
3. My rent includes electric, water, and sattelite tv. One stop shopping, so to speak.
4. I live above a bar. If you don't see the upside to that, I probably can't explain it to you.

CONS:
1. I live upstairs. After a 12 hour day at work, the last thing I want to do is walk up another flight of stairs.
2. I live above a bar. Along with it's obvious positive points, it has an equal number of negative points.

In other news, work has been good, but getting increasingly busy. We are entering a phase that is very busy with a lot of scrutiny.

J'aime les femmes françaises

2006-08-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

You know, as long as the appropriate spots are shaved.

But the real question is, can I get this on sattelite tv?

Another remake I'm excited about..

2006-08-08T04:26:00.000-05:00

The Departed

Martin Scorsese /Jack Nicholson / Martin Sheen / Alec Baldwin
Matt Damon / Leonardo DiCaprio / Mark Wahlberg

Look No Further

2006-08-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Reason #2 that Wisconsin is a great place to live:

You might become a millionaire.

FOND DU LAC, Wisconsin (AP) -- The single winning ticket for the $208.6 million (€163.1 million) prize in the multistate Powerball lottery was sold to someone in Fond du Lac, a city with a history of big jackpot winners, the Wisconsin Lottery said. (CNN.com)

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager - Episode 2

2006-08-02T23:33:00.000-05:00

From the good folks at Blame Society Films.

On a related note, I was in Wal-mart today. Thought about picking up one of these. I need it.

Still appropriate.

2006-08-01T08:39:00.000-05:00

Remember how I said nothing good ever comes out of our area making national news? Yeah, we're at it again. We have a serial flasher. Kind of makes you chuckle, until you find out he flashed a young girl and sexually assaulted another woman. But he's up to about 45 and counting.

On my trek back from Omaha I heard a great song- a classic really. I bet it's been 5 years since I heard it, but it's completely relevant today:

Theres too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see

This is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

Since I'm usually a fan of remakes, I'm really digging the new version of this old Genesis song.

P.S. Thinking I might switch to a Mac if one of these is included in each purchase.

Some Humor.

2006-07-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd post something a little more light-hearted, because Jenna comes here to laugh.

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager

Some fine Wisconsin folks made this video

Choke Hold

2006-07-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

It's a somewhat long story that I don't care to type, so I'll just give you the highlights:

I haven't seen my kids in 13 months.
My ex called to say she would be flying back to the US to visit her terminally ill mother.
She asked if I wanted to pick up the kids for a few weeks.
I said yes.
The day before I was supposed to leave my ex called to say she didn't want me taking them.
Argument back and forth.
Worked Tuesday night till Wednesday morning, got in my car and drove to Omaha, Nebraska.
Couldn't find my ex, she wouldn't return my calls.
Drove back to Wisconsin without my kids.
She stood me up.

As you would imagine, I'm very angry at the moment.

Dear Bicycle Enthusiasts

2006-07-23T18:13:00.000-05:00

Hello all of you Lance Armstrong wannabes.

Today I saw you. I wasn't particularly happy about this. You see, I have to question your judgement when you choose to ride your overpriced bikes into the heart of a tourist trap and I get even more upset when the route that you choose to travel is the only state highway leading to our little hamlet.

I've got to admit, my car is a piece of shit. But simple science tells me that in a battle between my car and your bike, I'll win every time. That means you shouldn't try to pass someone while traveling through an intersection and on the state highway. If you absolutely must pass (I understand it's a race) then I would strongly encourage you to look behind you before pulling within a foot of the highway centerline. As I mentioned earlier, my car isn't the greatest. It takes me longer than others to make a complete stop from 55 miles per hour.

But it's all in good fun and a worthy cause, right? You're racing to help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma. You're racing 150 miles to do it. Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but I have to make a few points:

1. You look gay in your little biker shorts and super tight racing jerseys.
2. No matter how long you fantasize, you'll never be the next Lance Armstrong.
3. Oblong helmets make you look like an alien.
4. Drop the zero and get with the hero.

Next time I see you, you just might get run over. I wouldn't do it on purpose, but it could happen. Next year, pick a different route or stay the fuck home.

Sincerely,

Wiggle Dick

This Bud's for me.

2006-07-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

And so was the one after that, and the one after that, and...

Well, you get the idea.

Question of the Day.

2006-07-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

Lately, does it feel more like:

A. June 28, 1914

B. September 29, 1939

C. October 29th, 1956

D. June 5th, 1967

E. October 6th, 1973

I'm going with A, but I'm thinking E is a close second.

Help us Bill!

2006-07-13T02:29:00.000-05:00

I try not to be political on here because it tends to turn people off, but I found something I wanted to comment on.

Have you seen the new ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee?

I do like the way the portray Bush & Company as bad guys. It is a campaign ad afterall. But what I don't like about it is that they invoke Bill Clinton. This tells me they are still lost and reaching for the good old days. Ever since Clinton left office the Democrats have been trying to emulate him and find his clone, and it just isn't going to happen. Even if Hillary gets the nod, she's no Bill. Also I think they could've made an anti-war statement without using soldier's coffins.

I thought the Democrats were a party that wanted to unite, not divide?

Latest Installment Of..

2006-07-10T18:53:00.000-05:00

As I've said before on this blog, when our little community makes the national news, its almost never for a good reason.

ELLISON BAY, Wisconsin (AP) -- At least one explosion damaged three buildings in this resort community early Monday, killing two people and sending seven others to hospitals, authorities said. CNN article here.

And on a lighter note: those who've been here for a while may have read an occasional drunk post now and then. I'm pleased to announce that I'll be posting a drunk picture or two sometime this week, so that should be fun for all.

Some random thoughts and stuff.

2006-07-05T07:53:00.000-05:00

I was going to make this a seperate post, but I know that nobody would've read the whole thing, so I'll just say this: The whole situation with Isreal and the Palestinians is very complicated and neither side has clean hands. But as a former soldier I find it very encouraging that a country is willing to put everything they have into finding their kidnapped conscript. That's dedication & loyalty - two traits a soldier is supposed to show towards their country and, unfortunately, usually not shown by their country towards them.

I see Cindy Sheehan is going on a hunger strike this summer. Only going to drink water, supposedly. I hope you get some bacteria infested water and die Cindy. You're a disgrace to your son's memory.

If I were North Korea I would tread lightly. Forget about what Uncle George has to say, I'd worry about Japan. Last time they got pissed off, they conquered the entire Pacific Rim.

Happy belated Fourth of July. I was going to post about this too, but I figured why bother? Hardly anyone celebrates the reason behind the holiday. It's just an excuse to get drunk. I find that very discouraging. (The not remembering part - we all know I like to drink in excess!)

My most memorable Fourth of July celebration happened a few years ago when my then wife was serving overseas in Korea. I took my two children to see the annual fireworks display on base and I just happened to find a patch of grass to sit on that was right next to a WWII vet. Me and my kids sitting next to this guy and his son, who was a Vietnam vet. My kids spent 2 1/2 hours watching fireworks, I spent it asking the old man to tell me another story, and another, and another. Hearing a first hand account of D-day is something everyone should be able to experience. Tom Browkow was right, they were the greatest generation.

As far as my holiday weekend? I spent it on the job. Working a 12 hour shift and walking a post with a pistol on your hip and a machine gun in your hand gives you a lot of time to reflect on the history of our country and a reminder that our independence isn't something to be taken lightly.

Luckily no terrorists jumped the fence. Hopefully they never do.

Damn, they almost got him*

2006-06-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

*they being the forces of good in this world

Freak accident sends Hasselhoff to surgery

LONDON, England (AP) -- Former "Baywatch" star David Hasselhoff had surgery after severing a tendon in his right arm in an accident in a London gym bathroom, his spokeswoman said Friday.

More info here.

Hips Don't Lie

2006-06-22T23:01:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of formulating a new workout routine.

Lately I've been switching between day shift and night shift every other week or every few weeks. Finally, after a couple months, my schedule is going to get back to normal.

Time to lose the 15 or so pounds I've put on over the last two months.

World Cup Madness.

2006-06-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

Go Sweden!

I hearby present..

2006-06-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

The iShitter

If you're that attached to your iPod, you have a problem.

You make the call

2006-06-14T13:47:00.000-05:00

A question for the guys (and ladies too, perhaps):

Which would you rather have teaching you the ropes?

Debra Lafave

OR

Pamela Rogers?

Joe already touched on this topic of hot teachers. I'm not going to get into all of the moral, ethical, and legal angles of teachers screwing students. I'm just here to say I'm pissed I didn't have this level of eye candy when I was in school.

In case you're not familiar with the case against Pamela Rogers, I'll give you the main points.

She was charged with having a sexual relationship with a 13 year old. She did a little prison time, and probation. The main part of her probation was to not have any contact with the student she was screwing.

Thinking she was clever, the teacher decided to create a myspace page as a method of staying in contact with the student. She also posted a video created with her cellphone of her dancing around in her underwear or bikini. The myspace page is gone, but you can see an archive of it here. You can also see the video by itself over on YouTube.

Or perhaps Erica Chevillar is more your taste.

At least she hasn't done anything illegal (that we know about).

Too bad for Amy McElhenney though.

She's been charged with a new felony on the books in Texas. She is accused of having sex with a student who is 18. In Texas it's illegal for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student, regardless of their age.

Maybe He'd Like a Recount?

2006-06-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

Have you seen Al Gore's movie? I haven't. I don't think it's playing anywhere near where I live, and I'm not a big theater-goer anyway. I prefer my movies on DVD.

The Canada Free Press has an interesting rebuttal posted on their website, it's definitely worth a read.

Here's a sample:

"Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."

Pain in the head.

2006-06-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

I currently have a top-five hangover.

Why do I torture myself like this? Because it was my birthday.

It has been decided that I shall have no more birthdays.

Hey Sergeant! Don't forget your strap-on!

2006-06-07T20:46:00.000-05:00

Special Forces to use strap-on "stealth wings"

A pretty neat article, actually.

Do it Do it

2006-06-04T15:06:00.000-05:00

I had an uncle with a long series of health problems related to Type II diabetes. He's battled through organ transplants, amputations, and infections of all sorts.

The brain aneurisym he had Wednesday morning was a bit of a suprise though, as those types of things usually are. Between the length of time it took for him to be found and the massive hemmoraging he had, the outlook wasn't good. Suprisingly he didn't die instantly, although being in a deep coma isn't much different really.

The doctors said that if he ever did "recover" his quality of life would be low, he's probably require a feeding tube and a ventilator in order to "live". The choice was made to take him off of ventilation and let him go because it was what he said he always wanted if this sort of situation came up. He died Friday morning not long after the ventilator was shut off.

I'm not here to get comments about how you're sorry(thank you though). I know you're all good people and I know what you'd say. What I am here to say is that you should have a living will. It doesn't matter if you're 18 or 80, its so important. Amazingly with all of his previous health issues, he didn't have one. I think that shocked me more than the medical situation that he was in. Fortunately our family was all on the same page with this situation, but it could've been real ugly if someone wasn't willing to let go and honor my uncle's wishes.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

2006-05-31T07:28:00.000-05:00

Unlike Joe, I don't have a nemesis. At least I never thought I did, but apparently someone is out to get me, and I didn't realize it until this morning.

Yesterday before going to work I read this article about Batwoman. In case you're too lazy to read it, I'll recap. DC Comics is bringing Batwoman back from the dead with a twist. They are making her a lesbian. I've never been a comic book fan but I saw a link to that article, and who can resist reading an article about a lesbian superhero?

So I read the article and didn't give it much thought until this morning. On the way home from work I was listening to the local rock station when I heard the daily trivia question about this very topic. My policy is that I never call into radio stations because you either don't get through, you have the correct answer too late, or the prize sucks. Well today the prize did indeed suck, but after 25 minutes or so nobody had the correct answer, so I called in:

DJ: Goodmorning
Me: Hey! I have an answer for ya.
DJ: Cool, what's your guess?
Me: Catwoman.
DJ: No, that's not it sorry.. but you're soo close.
Me: ..... Grrr.. damn, okay.
DJ: What was your answer again?
Me: Catwoman.
DJ: Sorry man, you're close but that's not it. You've had the best guess so far.
Me: Okay, thanks.

You see, I didn't pay much attention beyond the words lesbian when I read the article, so I really thought it was Catwoman. Obviously the DJ was giving me a shot to correct myself and win the crappy prize, but I never even bothered to guess Batwoman because I was 100% sure it was Catwoman.

So they come back from playing a song and I get to hear myself on the radio sounding like a complete ass, how nice is that? Meanwhile I'm positive I had the right answer and I can't wait to hear what "correct" answer was. That took another 10 minutes or so.

I must have a nemesis. Who it is, I don't know.

What I do know is they need a kick in the junk.

Two Awesome Headlines.

2006-05-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

A couple of stories I saw that I just couldn't pass up and felt like I needed to pass on:

STDs Running Rampant In Retirement Community

I can't really add anything else to this, its so funny (and sad) on it's own.

English radio station bans James Blunt songs

Man, I wish that would happen to the radio stations around here. If I ever meet Mr. Blunt I'm going to kick him in the junk. As hard as I can.

Promiscuous

2006-05-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

I can't say that I've ever been a devoted Nelly Furtado fan, but I've got to admit that I'm digging both the song and video "Promiscuous".

The song is pretty different from anything I've ever heard from her in the past, and since she's teamed up with Timbaland there definitely is a hip-hop/dance flavor to the beat and lyrics.

Nelly's looking pretty tasty in the video, but one thing I don't get is why Justin Timberlake makes a cameo in the video. I don't hear him in the song at all, but he does show up in the video. I assume it's because he's buddys with Timbaland.

Check it out and see what you think. I'm sure you'll hear it constantly if you go out to the clubs this summer.

Federally Fucked, Part 2

2006-05-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

Twice in 4 years the government has allowed my personal information to be stolen. I'm not exactly happy about this.

The first time it happened, "only" 550,000 of us had to worry that someone was using our information illegally.

This time pretty much anyone who served after 1975 is at risk.

We can shoot a missle half way around the world and put it on an exact street corner if we want to, but we cannot protect a single social security number. How sad is this?

Maybe I'll just post my personal data on my blog so that way everyone can have it.

See, what I meant was.. um... I don't know, I'm just stooooopid.

2006-05-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

The other day I was causing trouble over on Juicy's blog and today I found another gem, so I just couldn't resist the urge to write a little diddy about it.

Natalie Maines, recording selling genius, part time political activist.

Most think I don't like this Chick because of her politics, but in reality its because her game is weak. It's one thing if you disagree with a person or policy and are smart enough to come up with a counter-arguement. It's another ballgame all together when all you can come up with is a glorified "I know you are, but what am I?.." retort. Look, I got off the Bush bandwagon a while back, so I can relate with people's frustrations, but at least come up with a good reason why you hate the man.

This CNN.com article illustrates the frustration people have with this lunatic.

The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," peaked at No. 36 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, beginning its descent after just seven weeks. The second single, "Everybody Knows," is now at No. 50, down two places in its fourth week.

Well, that's okay because Natalie doesn't care what the "Country Industry" thinks about her music.

"Not Ready to Make Nice" performed only slightly better at adult contemporary radio, peaking at No. 32 on the AC chart and falling off after six weeks.

Well, crap.. looks like the non-Country folks don't give a shit either.

I wonder how long this whole thing becomes a centerpiece for a VH1 "Where are they now?" episode?

Maines was quoted in late January on EW.com, before the single went to country radio, saying: "For me to be in country music to begin with was not who I was ... I would be cheating myself ... to go back to something that I don't wholeheartedly believe in. So I'm pretty much done. They've shown their true colors. I like lots of country music, but as far as the industry and everything that happened ... I couldn't want to be farther away from that."
Maines also said, "I don't want people to think that me not wanting to be part of country music is any sort of revenge. It is not. It is totally me being who I am, and not wanting to compromise myself and hate my life."

Judging by the comments by Mark Evans, my guess is sooner than later.

"When an artist says that they don't want to be a part of that industry, it made our decision a no-brainer," program director Mark Evans says. "There are too many talented new artists dying to have a song played on country radio, so I'd rather give one of them a shot."

I wonder if a sex tape will surface soon, because someone has jumped way beyond the shark.

Myass

2006-05-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Tom can kiss my ass.

Supposedly it's cool to have a Myspace account. If you have one, then you can post about crimes you've committed, underage chicks you've banged, or death threats against coworkers/students you hate.

A small crew of non bloggers that I'm friends with have encouraged me to create a Myspace page so they could add me or something like that. I resisted their request for a month or so, but finally caved in simply because I was tired of hearing about it.

All I know is that Myspace goes down more often than a hooker in Vegas. I'm glad I didn't plant my flag over there, and it makes me not want to bitch about the odd occasion when Blogger acts up.

Burpin the Worm.

2006-05-20T01:43:00.000-05:00

Sort of a drunk post here folks. Went to a local establishment to have some food and a cocktail or six...

Wings were marginal and I spent the remainder of the night with three women.

Yeah, I went home alone. The force is strong with me.

Ok, I'm starting to get freaked out.

2006-05-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

I've never watched an episode of Lost, not even one minute of the show. Don't get me wrong, its not that I'm boycotting the show or anything like that. In fact, I was pretty interested in it from the very first commercial promoting the series premier. I'm out of the loop because I never integrate a tv show into my life schedule. Maybe I'll have to pick up the show on DVD someday, and give it a shot.

These ads for the Hanso Foundation and subLYMONal freak me out. Who goes to these lengths just to please fans? Is this the beginning of a New World Order? I'm keeping an eye on this stuff...

Well, that's the way it is.

2006-05-16T07:53:00.000-05:00

I don't obsess. I swear. Occasionally I get a little pissy with the amount of (or lack of) traffic to my blog. Understandably there is a reciprocal relationship between the quality and quantity of posts and the hits you get, but I've always maintained that I do the blog for me, and if anyone else joins in for the ride it would be cool.

Having an audience is a pretty cool thing for the most part, except for the pressure to post on a regular basis just to feed the masses. It would be awesome to have a sitemeter report that looked a little like this:

But we can't all live in the limelight.

If you're still reading this, it's your lucky day.. I have a special treat in store for you. Click the link and watch the video all the way to the end. It'll make your life more meaningful in every possible way.

Ever hear of Morgellons Disease? Neither did I until I read this article. I'm completely freaked out by it. I'd rather have AIDS, and I'm not joking.

Another little prize, because it's cool to be a Bush Hater.

Ahh, the pride of town.

2006-05-05T23:14:00.000-05:00

It's not often that our little town makes the headlines at CNN.

And when we do, it's never a good thing.

Been a rough week.

2006-05-04T20:58:00.000-05:00

* Our training class hasn't been able to get in much shooting this week because of scheduling difficulties, so we get the honor of more classroom instruction. Death By Powerpoint.

* After going shooting for nearly 3 weeks straight I think I'm going through withdrawls.

* I have this on going issue with one of my molars. Its more like a filling wrapped in tooth, and because of that, the tooth is pretty weak. I must've chipped it in my sleep because I woke up on Tuesday with a pretty impressive toothache. My life is about Tylenol and Orajel these days.

* Probably going to have to bite (no pun intented) the bullet and get it taken care of. My insurance doesn't start until next month. I'm thrilled with the prospect of paying for this out of pocket.

* Speaking of money.. you know what they say, "The more you make, the more you spend". Where in the hell is my money going? I hope someone has an answer because I can't figure it out.

* I managed to get a verbal reprimand the other day. 5 of us made the mistake of hitting up a local mom and pop sub sandwich shop on our 45 minute lunch break. Little did we know it would take the old geezer 35 minutes to make our subs plus the 4 that were ordered before we arrived. 9 subs in 35 minutes! We ended up getting back to class 7 minutes late.

* Despite that snafu, I've become a protege of sorts to one of the instructors. I've been getting some nods of approval and little side conversations about the good things I'm doing at work. It's refreshing and a nice change of pace. The last few years I've been looking over my shoulder and doing my best to hide from my supervisors for various reasons.

* My training is almost complete. Soon I'll trade in my mullet and rat-tail braid for a hobo cut, beard, and a saber color of my choosing.

Crap!

2006-04-27T10:41:00.000-05:00

Things always happen when I'm not on shift. I want some excitement.

Unscheduled Break.

2006-04-19T19:13:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. Sorry about that.

I've been a pretty busy guy the last few weeks. The previous two weeks I was doing On the Job Training on the night shift, and this week and the next will be spent on the local gun club shooting various pistols and (gasp!) assault rifles.

I really wish I had some cool stories to share, but that well has been pretty dry lately. I do have a couple of things on my mind though:

Them Duke Boys. Not these guys, but these guys. Let me get all the obligatory stuff out the way first. No woman should be raped ever, under any circumstances. Something just smells fishy about this whole situation to me. I have no idea if this girl got raped or not but it seems that one of the players has a pretty good alibi. I know it's early though. My initial feeling is that this "victim" lacks credibility.

On local radio I constantly hear ads by WCASA (Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault). The ads feature both male and female teenagers, and the basic premise for the ads is that it doesn't matter what a girl says, does, has done in the past, or how she is dressed. If she says no, it means no. It's a great message to spread to our youngsters, no doubt about that. It's hard for me to explain, but the way I feel when I hear the ads is that they want you to treat men as rapists until they prove themselves otherwise. The ads feel like a complete guilt trip, and I hate them for it. I know it doesn't matter how a woman is dressed, acts, talks, or what their previous history is. But how hard would it be to put out a positive ad that does hold women accountable for things they do control. I'd love to see an ad that says "Hey ladies, if you don't want men to treat you like a slut, then don't dress like one". That would completely make my day.

Ugh. Enough about rape. I was pretty happy when the baseball season started. My Tigers jumped out of the gate. They've since come back to reality and currently sitting with a record of 7-7. I know there are still 148 games left, but they will disappoint me again.

I've seen some pretty neat links on other people's websites and blogs that deserve to be pointed out. Hopefully I'll get a post up by the end of the week.

Only 2 weeks left for me featured blog. He's shutting it down at the end of the month, for reasons unknown. I just hope it's because he wants to and not because of pressure from anyone.

That's all I've got for today.

Play Ball

2006-04-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

I took a bus trip to Miller Park today and caught the Brewers - Diamondbacks game. I'm not a Brewers fan, but any excuse I can come up with to drink some beer will work for me.

As I mentioned, it was a bus trip so I didn't have to worry about driving home and got to concentrate on pouring down the beers. The bus pulled out of the parking lot at 9am, and I cracked open my first beer about 9:02! The key is to drink as much as you can on the bus ride down, unless paying $6.50 for one beer is your thing, in which case you can just wait until you get to the ballpark.

The only downside to a bus trip is that we didn't get to tailgate. The upside is that tailgating is a religion here in Wisconsin, so it's not hard to find someone else's party to attend. Our bus happened to be parked next to a bus carrying a bunch of drunk college students. They had 38 thirty-packs of beer and two kegs. There were only 52 students in that trip, so they were pretty blitzed. I witnessed a failed keg-stand, luckily the guy didn't get hurt when he fell on his face.

The game was actually pretty good. A little drama at the end, with the Brewer's coming from behind to win. I was co-winner of the pool for final score. I had the winning number of "9", and the final was 5-4. I paid $5 to get in the pool, and won $50!

All in all, it was a pretty good day. Any day I get to drink beer is a good day.

In other news..

2006-03-30T18:35:00.000-06:00

So Joe had this recurring thing where he made fun of California. I'll admit I was firmly seated on that bandwagon.

Who knew I'd become a UCLA fan? Go Bruins!

I've got a new Featured Blog. Muhammad and Me cracks me up. I can't tell if the author has legit plans for his artwork, if he's just being racist, or if it's just a play on those riot-inspiring cartoons from last month. Either way, I read the caption and look at the picture, and start laughing.

Dirty Bunny gets a link, cause I reciprocate 'n shit.

It burns when I see!

2006-03-26T21:44:00.000-06:00

As promised, I've posted the pepper spray video.

A couple of things to point out:

* As far as training goes, we got off "easy". Most police departments and academies will make you perform tasks after getting sprayed, such as handcuffing a subject, retaining your weapon while someone tries to take it from you, etc. As you'll see in the video, all that happened to me is that I was sprayed in the face and led directly to water to flush out my eye.

* Most people who get sprayed for training get hit in both eyes. In the video you'll see that I was only hit in one eye.

* The person who took the video was a little slow. When it starts I was just sprayed. The video quality is a little low, but you can see the pepper spray dripping down my face before the video starts.

* Any hoping to see me running around or crying like a bitch will be disappointed. Most of the video will show me getting my eye flushed out and then sitting on a bench.

* The video has no sound.

TGIF

2006-03-24T19:58:00.000-06:00

Wow it's been one busy week.

I haven't posted anything in a week because I honestly haven't had much to say. I've been stuck in training during the day, learning about things not suitable for public posting. No real big stuff, but at the same time I'm not interested in losing my job, so we'll leave it at that.

Today pepper spray training. I've got a video clip of me getting sprayed, I'll post that later this weekend or Monday.

My new laptop came in the mail today, so this post will be short. Got to get it all set up and configured the way I want.

Done.

2006-03-17T22:10:00.000-06:00

A couple housekeeping notes.

Wednesday was my last night at the fab company. Thursday morning and Friday morning I had some training at the power plant. I start full time at the plant on Monday. It's the beginning of a new chapter. Hopefully it turns out to be a good and long chapter.

* * *

A couple things on my mind, unfortunately I don't have links to support them.

Did you hear the one about the guy in Michigan fighting his child support order? I saw an article on this a few days ago on MSN.com. Allegedly he had a relationship with a woman, and was adamant that he was not interested in becoming a father. Supposedly that wasn't a problem for her as she said that she wasn't capable of pregnancy due to previous medical issues.

Of course Murphy's Law struck, and she became pregnant. The relationship dissolved, the baby was born, and a child support order was issued. Now this guy is fighting in court, going with the equal rights/equal protection angle. His claim is that women hold all the cards when it comes to a pregnancy. He didn't want a child from day one of the relationship, didn't have the option to abort the child, doesn't have anything to do with the child, and doesn't want to pay for the child.

He's got a point. If a couple becomes pregnant, it's all up to the woman. Suppose it was the other way around? Suppose he wanted the child and she didn't? She wouldn't give birth to the child for the father's sake, she'd most likely ~~kill~~ abort the child. Naysayers will say tough shit for the man. It's the woman's body so it's her choice! Men have been holding women down for years, it's about time women had a card they could play! If men win these types of cases it opens the floodgates for more deadbeat dads!

So are we talking about having equal rights for all, or are we talking about getting one up on the opposite sex? If you're for equality you have to at some point draw a line in the sand and acknowledge the past abuses and vow that you'll fight for a free and equal society, not making the other group feel bad for something their fathers, grandfathers, or great grandfathers did.

Do I hope the guy wins? Partially yes, and partially no. The guy does make a valid point and possibly has a good case. Sadly I think he'll lose the case not because of the merits, but because I don't see any judge setting that precedent. Unfortunately, the judicial system views previous cases as holy grail instead of making a decision based on a current case in front of them.

Part of me hopes that he loses because there is a certain amount of personal responsibility involved each and every time you get between the sheets or in the back seat of Dad's Cadillac. You must be willing to face parenthood if you want to screw. It should be that simple, but with our blame-everyone-else society, it's not that way.

Which leads to the next topic on my mind. And it's all about responsibility.

There is a blog out there that gives very graphic and very detailed information on at-home, do it yourself abortions. The author of the site is putting the information out there as a pre-emptive move to the newly passed laws in South Dakota banning almost all forms of abortion that take effect this summer. The prevailing thinking (or fear) is that the newest members of the U.S. Supreme Court make overturning Roe V. Wade a very real possibility.

It's always such a hot-button issue, this abortion thing. Personally I think way too many occur in this country. Like I said before, I think people need to own up to their responsibilities when they become sexually active. Sure, you can site scenarios where it was the absolute best thing for someone to have an abortion, whether it's because they were very young, mentally retarded, etc, etc. You'll note that I didn't say I was in favor of banning abortions. Having said that though, I really do hope Roe V. Wade is struck down as unconstitutional. How can we say that everyone's rights are being protected when both parents don't have to give consent? I'm not even going to go into the potential rights of the unborn baby, but some are willing to make an argument there as well.

I think the only fair option is to overturn the decision and allow each state to decide what they want to do. At least that way any man in a pro-abortion state will know right away that their rights as a father don't exist. Unless of course the mother decides to keep the baby and not include you. Then you can have your checkbook ready.

A pretty good weekend.

2006-03-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

I left work Thursday night and headed for Upper Michigan to do a little snowmobiling.

Overall it was a pretty good weekend. There were a couple minor mechanical problems, but nothing that ruined the weekend. The temps were high though, in the upper 40's all weekend, which meant the trails were rough in some spots, but the upside was that we didn't have to wear 4 layers of clothes to stay warm. I rode all weekend with my jacket half-zipped and wearing real thin gloves.

One of my favorite things about snowmobiling is that you get to see some neat things. It's not uncommon to see deer, moose, fox, eagles, etc. Besides the wildlife there are a lot of natural wonders that make for good viewing. This weekend was no different. On Friday afternoon we stopped along the trail and checked out the view at Tahquamenon Falls. I didn't take this particular picture, but what I saw was almost identical:

Gay Cowboys get no lovin'

2006-03-05T22:33:00.000-06:00

Well, they got a little love, but probably not as much as people were thinking they were going to get. Was it even Oscar worthy? I'm asking because I don't know. I haven't seen it.

In a totally unrelated matter, I woke up Saturday morning with a dry hacking cough. Probably bronchitis, but possibly Avian Flu. I could die at any moment, so I get no lovin' either - gay or otherwise.

Who will take care of me in my time of need?

Given the option, I always take the more difficult path.

2006-02-28T12:55:00.000-06:00

I was going to write about this last night after work, but I thought a 20 hour day was long enough.

Yesterday I had the final step of my selection process. It included a physical as well as a fitness test.

The physical was what you'd expect it to be. Reading eye charts, testing for color blindness, hearing test, walk on your toes, walk on your heels, letting the doctor listen to your lungs, etc.

After all of that was completed, it was time to move on to the fitness test. The power plant has decided to use the YMCA 3 minute step test to evaluate your fitness level. Essentially you stand in front of a 12 inch box, step onto it with both feet, then step down to the floor with both feet. You have to stay with the rhythm of 96 beats per minute, equaling 24 up and down repetitions per minute. After doing this for 3 minutes you are allowed to rest for one minute and then your pulse is checked. For a male my age my pulse had to be between 101-106.

After completing the test my heart rate was 119. I failed the test and I was too far out of the range to complete a retest. In fact, they rechecked my pulse after about 3 minutes and it was still 119. My only remaining option was to complete a 1.5 mile run on a treadmill in 14 minutes or less. For active runners, this isn't a very hard test. I haven't run further than 100 feet since 2001 and I was very nervous about the situation.

I was sent to the waiting room to rest and relax and get my pulse back to normal resting rate. I spent about 20 minutes getting myself ready from a mental standpoint and got on the treadmill. As soon as they brought the treadmill up to speed I nearly panicked. I had spent the time to get mentally ready for the test, but I never stretched out. For whatever reason it totally slipped my mind. I had the nurse start the treadmill at the lowest possible passing speed, which it turns out was 6.5 miles per hour. I blew through the first 3/4 of a mile with relative ease but then my calves started to cramp up and things got progressively worse physically and mentally. Nine minutes into the test I was ready to quit. Everything seemed to be falling apart in front of me. I could visualize the job going down the drain. I had managed to pass everything up to this point and all I had to do was maintain the pace and push through to the end.

The biggest quality I learned during my time in the Army was that you find out that you can push your body a lot further than you'd think you can. Your mind will want to quit long before your body will. As I struggled to maintain the pace of the run that's what I started to think about. I knew I still had some left in the tank, I just needed to get rid of the negative thoughts my brain was screaming at me. I need some motivation to make it the final 5 minutes. What better to think about than money? This job means a $5/hr increase for me, it gives me a lot more options to do a lot more things for a financial point of view. It was the only motivation I needed. I got my running form back into shape, stretched my stride out just a little bit more, and got my breathing back into control. When I had two minutes left I started to feel the panic again because I could feel my body starting to fail on me. I've never been a strong runner, I haven't ran in 5 years and my body wasn't used to it at all.

Sheer willpower pushed me those final two minutes, and I passed the test. I cleared the final hurdle and for the first time in 2 or 3 years I felt a little pride in accomplishing something.

There was a funny (for me) moment during the physical examination that I want to share with you. The doctor that did the exam was a female. It occurred to me that I've had doctor's appointments with female doctors in the past, but I've never had to do the turn-and-cough with a female before. I was stripped down to a hospital gown and boxers and sitting in a cold room with this woman, and all I could think of was the Seinfeld "shrinkage!" episode. The doctor had remarked on how cold the room was and apologized a couple of times during the exam that I had to sit there half naked and freezing.

When the time came for the hernia check, the doctor blew on to her hands before fondling my nutties. I couldn't help but smile outwardly while noting that I just got a blowjob from a doctor.

I'll join the club.

2006-02-26T19:22:00.000-06:00

On Feb 27th, 2005 I started blogging.

I'm not going to wax poetic about the highs and lows over the last year, but I do want to point out a couple of things:

1. When I started this blog I hoped that it would be something I'd continue, but I figured I would get bored with it and eventually delete it.

2. A year ago I would have never envisioned that I'd be where I am today, and for the most part, it's a good place.

3. I never thought I'd meet so many interesting people. I'm glad I've met each and every one of you.

Can't Touch This

2006-02-26T19:19:00.000-06:00

I can't pass up the opportunity to point out this blog.

This isn't my new Featured Blog, but I have found one that I'll write about in a day or two.

Word. 2 Legit.

I want one!

2006-02-24T13:34:00.000-06:00

But I don't have $6,500 stuffed under the matress :(

2006-02-22T02:59:00.000-06:00

So I saw the psychiatrist today. Turns out it wasn't Cyclops Lady but a Dr. Phil lookalike.

On a happier note, I found out that it's okay to touch yourself while reading The Weekly Standard or Guns & Ammo.

Weekend Update.

2006-02-19T00:16:00.000-06:00

I made it through the week relatively unscathed. It was harder handle the second day of classroom work (Wednesday) than it was on the first day. I had to score an 80% or higher in order to pass. I was really nervous about it because I kept falling asleep literally every five minutes. Luckily I had some good people around me to protect (read: poke) me so that I'd make it. I never really was completely out of it, sort of that mental haze you get before you drift off for good. I managed to get an 82% on the test, but should've had 90%. One question I circled the wrong answer instead of the correct one, and just managed to realize it. On two other questions I was pretty sure I had the correct answer but confused myself and read more into the questions than was necessary. I dont' sweat it though, I passed and that's all that mattered in the end.

I never did see the shrink this week. Me and a couple of other guys still need to do that for various reasons. My reason revolved around credit issues. I think I mentioned before on this blog that I was unemployed for a year when I moved to Texas. Every bill I had piled up and went unpaid for the longest time. After my divorce I worked jobs that barely paid the rent and put food in my stomach, so some of continued to be unpaid. In the end it's my fault, but I always feel compelled to explain it further. I want people to know that I'm only half a deadbeat.

I've been chipping away at this pile of debt, slowly but surely. Some bills are so old the bill collectors stopped sending notices or phone calls. Anyway, this doesn't sit well with the people doing the background checks and was a concern I had going into this process. With a few phone calls and a few arrangements it appears that it's all sorted out and I'll be called on Monday with a date/time to see the shrink. If this hurdle can be cleared, then I'll be back on the plant around March 2nd for respirator training and fitting, and then I'd be fully cleared and starting OJT on March 20th.

In my last post I said that I'd talk about the 3-D hand scan. Probably more fascinating in person, but basically one of the many entry control procedures is for all employees to have their hand read prior to entering certain areas. Somewhere around 80 points are mapped and recorded, and its verified by placing your hand inside a reader each time you go to certain parts of the plant.

I'm creating a new section on my blog for unupdated blogs. Most people would just delete them, but I'm keeping them around because I either hope they return, or the content was too good to forget about. Some have run their course (81 Vaginas, Darthside, IRR, etc.) others are just MIA (Immoderation, No Time for Later, etc.)

I'm also looking for a new blog to highlight. If you have any suggestions please leave it in the comments section. Thanks.

Dead Man Walking

2006-02-15T02:13:00.000-06:00

My balls are really dragging. I'd post a picture, but I'm too tired.

Monday I was up at 5am, at the plant by 8 am (takes me an hour to get there). Fingerprints, breathlyzer, 3D hand scan (this was cool, more on this some other post), and piss test. Done by 2pm, went to my current job, worked until 2am. In bed by 2:30am, back up at 4:45am.

Tuesday was plant access training. Fail and you're out. Class starts at 7am sharp. I worried about it all day since I only got 2 hours of sleep. It was 6 hours of lecture on topics I've never encountered before. Fought the urge to sleep all day, figured I'd bomb the test. Managed to pull a 94%. Done at 3:30pm, off to my current job.

I just got home, and I have to get up at 4:45 again. Radiation training today. More lecture, another pass-or-go-home test.

Tomorrow and Friday is uniform fittings and teleconference with a Shrink. That should be fun, I'll have no patience left by the time I get around to talking to him.

I'm told my background check is complete and forwarded to the investigations supervisor for final o.k. before giving my potential new employer the green light. This takes a minor load off of my chest.

I'm so tired and would enjoy death. Why am I blogging?

Goodnight.

Running in place.

2006-02-10T13:35:00.000-06:00

That's how I've been feeling all week. The company that is doing my background check has called me a few times with some routine questions. It's also appears they are more detailed than some of my previous background checks. That fact has created a little anxiety, simply because you never really know how things will turn out. This morning they called me again and told me they were waiting on a response from one of my references and my background check will be complete. Good news for a Friday.

No plans for the weekend here, hope everyone has a good one.

Monday the fun begins. Training all day, work all night, sleep 2-3 hours sometime after work. Try not to oversleep, try not to fall asleep at the wheel, try to be on time. Next Friday can't get here soon enough!

Dear Applicant:

2006-02-05T17:56:00.000-06:00

Dear Mark:

Congratulations! You have been selected to become an employee of The XXXX Nuclear Services Division at the XXXX Nuclear Power Station. The hiring process had over 100 applicants and we took the best available candidates for the job. You are being offered a position contingent upon your successful passing and completion of the following:

Medical Examination
Physical Fitness Test
MMPI Personality Test
Drug Screen
General Access Training
Background Check
Security Training

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I have a week's worth of training, testing, and screening to see if I make the cut, starting Feb. 13th. Wish me luck!

Who listens to you?

2006-01-28T23:53:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd talk about the NSA eavesdropping and how it effects me, so here we go.

Depending on which news source you believe, one of three things are happening:

1. Communications to and from international locations involving suspected terrorists/sympathizers are being monitored.

2. All international communications, inbound and outbound, are being monitored.

3. All elements of point #2, as well as all of Bush's enemies are being monitored.

Most articles I've read indicate that answer number 2 is the most likely scenario happening. When the story broke my initial reaction was that I thought it was a smart move because anyone not planning or conducting a terror campaign should have nothing to worry about. Since I'm not planning the destruction of the country I felt that this policy didn't have any effect on me.

I do have some questions and concerns about the policy though. I think the President should give as detailed as possible report to the people without giving away any classified information. I think he can explain the safeguards in the system without exposing anything. People are worried that the policy will be abused, and I'm one of them.

Later I began to wonder if any of my conversations are being monitored. I have two children that live with their mother, my ex wife, in Germany. She is remarried to a man who is a soldier in the U.S. Army who is currently stationed over there.

You: You're so paranoid. Just because she is overseas doesn't mean your house is bugged.

Me: Well, I'm not finished yet..

You: Oh, ok..

If anyone did listen to those conversations and read the emails, they would hear a lot of dialog between myself and my kids. Typical, normal things you'd hear a father say to his 7 year old daughter and 6 year old son. On the other hand I talk to my ex about various things going on in our lives. Typically these conversations involve words like Army, Platoon, Unit, WMD's, Chemicals, Deployments, Airline Flights, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guns, etc. Of course there is the continuing saga with my attempts to get employed at the local nuclear power plant.

From everything I've read, the NSA doesn't have a legion of civil servants all wearing headphones, listening to each and every conversation. They have computers do the heavy lifting, sorting out key words and phrases. How many of the things I've listed are on that list of key words and phrases? I'd be willing to bet all of them.

I don't freak out about things though. I'd say the odds are fifty-fifty at best that my conversations are actually analized for intent. And even if they are, it wouldn't take long to figure out that I'm not up to something.

Like other critics out there, it's not that I'm worried about myself, but I do worry about the prinicple of the matter. If I had to choose an answer, I'd say George Bush and Co. aren't collecting information outside of the intended scope, but you just never know. Just because Bush doesn't want that to happen doesn't mean someone else in the chain wouldn't take advantage of the situation if they thought it would help them. Also it sets a precident that future Presidents might choose to continue, and who's to say a future leader won't abuse the system?

Interview update:

I had my second interview with the nuclear power plant. I wouldn't say I hit it out of the park, but I think I left the interviewers with the impression that I'm a solid candidate. I'm expecting an offer from them in the next few days. I'd be shocked if I didn't.

Congrats, Canada!

2006-01-25T14:14:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the club.

Five things and other housecleaning notes.

2006-01-25T12:25:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone.

Keeks thought it would be cool to tag me with this 5 weird habits thing. I've thinking about it for a few days and it's hard to come up with five things, because I'm a pretty normal and boring guy. So it's going to be a weird habits/facts-you-might-not-know post instead.

1. When I eat a pop-tart I always eat the crust first.

2. I used to be terrified of needles, even the smallest ones. Back in 1998 I contracted menengitis and had to have a spinal tap. You'd think that would've reinforced my fear, but it didn't. I figure if I can handle a giant needle in my back, I can handle the little ones in the arm.

3. When I have various types of food on my plate, I don't freak out if they touch unless by doing so one of the foods will be "ruined" (ex: something wet or runny mixing with cake or cookies, etc). Although not as a rule and not all of the time, I tend to eat one item until its gone before moving on to other items.

4. Unless I'm running late or in some sort of panic, I tend to follow the speed limit or stay real close to it. Partly because I can't afford any tickets, partly because studies show you don't save much time by going 5 or 10 over the limit. Interstate driving is a little different of course, but I still stay pretty close to the speed limit.

5. I don't make a lot of eye contact with people I don't know. When talking to a stranger I will look them in the eye, but I don't seek out people by eye contact as others tend to do. I'm sort of a private person and until I'm familiar with someone I don't seek people out that way. Maybe I don't want people to think I'm staring? I'm not sure what it is.

And for some housekeeping notes:

I'm working an odd shift these days. My workday starts at 3pm and ends at 1:45am, with optional overtime until 2:45am. I usually work the overtime because what else is there to do at that time of night? I might as well work. That's one reason for my lack of postings, I'm still adjusting to the schedule. When I get into stretches where I'm not blogging, it's usually because I get wrapped up in other people's blogs. I mostly blame Joe for this. His posts are great, the comments are funny, and before you know it I've run out of time to write something in my own blog. I've also spent some time reading blogs that are new to me. I've been checking out Danny, G.D., Lulu, and Jenna. You should check them out too.

Some of you may remember this summer when I was whining about a job I really wanted in the Nuclear world that didn't end up happening because of scheduling problems. Last Friday I finally got a chance to sit down for an interview. I was told that 50 people were interviewing for about 15-20 positions. This Friday I'm having my second interview. I'm confident. Because of my experience, I feel like it's in the bag. Now I just have to deliver the mail. I'll keep you updated, even if you don't care.

This whole Bush Administration domestic spying program has left me with some mixed feelings because I think it effects me personally. Expect a post on that soon.

Lex.

2006-01-12T14:18:00.000-06:00

I've had an epiphany of sorts today.

You know how it is when you see a friend, family member or coworker everyday and you don't notice their weight loss or gain because you see them all the time?

I've been on the lookout for a new Featured Blog for a few days now, and it occured to me that my latest choice has been with me for quite a while.

Navy Captain Lex has a blog that I've linked from almost the beginning. I don't leave comments on his blog very often. Hell, I don't leave comments on other people's blogs that much anymore, but when I go check out what Lex has to say, I usually just lurk and read. What I like about his blog is that he weighs in on a variety of topics. Since he is a Naval Officer he does share some old sea stories and military related stories, but he doesn't force it down your throat everyday. He also shares stories about his family, gives opinion on current events, and many other topics.

I knew that I wanted to point him out after several successive posts that made me think, "I'd like to point this out too, maybe I should link him?".

If you haven't already checked out Lex, you should give him a shot. He's got a lot to say and I'm sure you'll find him enjoyable. I do recommend that you read his short story Rhythms. It's a fictional story about life on an aircraft carrier, but it isn't all blood and bullets, it's more about things going through sailors minds as they float in the sea.

That next blog button..

2006-01-12T14:14:00.000-06:00

I was bored and decided I'd check out some random blogs.

I think my male readers will enjoy this blog. Perhaps some of the ladies will too.

Please GM, do it for me.

2006-01-10T21:12:00.000-06:00

Well piss. I've tried about a dozen times to put up a picture, but it's not working right for some reason. Go here to see pictures of the new Camaro Concept that GM unveiled this week.

Two things pissing me off right now.

2006-01-07T23:34:00.000-06:00

The theme pisses me off on a current, constant basis. Luckily there isn't a shortage of examples to cite.

Wondering what's got me all worked up?

Racism.

Not as someone might normally think about it though. What angers me is when someone cries equality out of one side of their mouth, and screams racism out of the other.

You see, the National Football League has a policy known as the "Rooney Rule" which says that when teams are seeking to fill coaching positions, they are required to interview minority candidates. On it's face it sounds like a good policy. The NFL is forcing teams to interview people in order to get more minorities into coaching positions.

But whatever happened to hiring the most qualified person? A couple of years ago my favorite team, the Detroit Lions, had a coaching vacancy. They knew immediately who they wanted to hire. They interviewed the proven (white) coach, and hired him right away. It was public knowledge that they wanted to hire the man, and that he wanted the job. In an effort to comply with the rules, the Lions offered interviews to minority candidates. All of them declined, because it was no secret that they weren't going to get the job. Since the Lions didn't actually interview a minority candidate, they were fined by the NFL. It sounds silly, but the NFL doesn't always want you to hire the most qualified, they want you to hire the most deversified.

Fast forward to this year. The Kansas City Chiefs have a coaching vacancy. They also have old business and coaching ties to the current coach of the New York Jets. As of right now a deal has been struck that will move the coach to Kansas City to take over the team. There won't be any fines in this situation because the man they want, Herm Edwards, is a black male. He is also probably the most qualified person available right now (subject to debate only because there are 7 coaching vacancies and numerous candidates out there).

So I guess I ask, will anyone cry racism this time? Probably not. This particular situation, just like the Lion's situation isn't a racist situation, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander, no?

This article by Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com is filled with a number of examples.

It's supposed to be article about "What Mattered Most in 2005". Scoop is a black man. The only thing that mattered to Scoop were "black issues" for the most part. He mentions the suicide of the son of Colt's Tony Dungy, the NBA dress code, and Stephen A. Smith's new talk show, Hurricane Katrina, and Notre Dame's hiring and contract extention of Charlie Weiss.

Tony Dungy seems to be a class act, and I don't want to sound disrespectful but I've always had a hard time feeling sorry for people who commit suicide. I've worked in a psychiatry clinic and I know that depression is a serious issue that requires serious intervention, no matter what Tom Cruise says, but it's ultimately selfish. All his son has done is create sadness within his family and friends. By all accounts he never tried to get help. That's sad regardless of what race you are.

The NBA has instituted a dress code requiring that players attending NBA functions (games, interviews, etc) are required to dress business casual. This has upset the hip-hop league of players to no end, some even calling for a little money on the side so they can purchase the clothes. The NBA is a multi-million dollar business, the players make multi-millions of dollars. They should act like it and throw on a collared shirt and some khakis. The NBA isn't requiring players to purchase Armani suits, just to clean up a bit and leave the dewrags at home. When I worked for Dell Computers, I was required to dress business casual and they didn't pay for my clothes. According to Scoop, this about holding the man down and nothing more.

Stephen A. Smith is a loud and obnoxious man. He is also the host of a show on ESPN called Quite Frankly where Stephen gives his opinions on various sports subjects. This is important to Scoop because it's the first time since Arsenio Hall that someone who is black hosts a show which also includes his name. I guess he never saw that show that's on late at night where that one guy interviews the latest Hollywood stars who are promoting their movies.. his name escapes me right now, but the point is that Scoop was wrong. That guy has his name in the title too. How come Stephen A. Smith's show can be an important part of 2005 simply because it's good? Why does it have to be about being black?

Hurricane Katrina effected people from all racial groups. It didn't pick on black people. Scoop was upset that the NFL didn't delay or rearrange the season to accomodate the New Orleans Saints. You can give pros and cons both ways, but the NFL's choice wasn't racist. It was a business choice, plain and simple.

A lot of people are upset that Notre Dame fired their previous coach Ty Willingham (who is black) after a few seasons. The dig on his teams was that they didn't close the big games. His teams played well, but the didn't bring Notre Dame back to the front pages of the sports section. He was fired and (white) (alumni) (3 Superbowl rings) Charlie Weiss was brought in to run the team. Just being there brought a spark to the team. He got more out of Ty's players than Ty ever did and was rewarded, almost certainly too early, with a 10 year contract extention. Weiss is a proven winner, the alumni like him, and the team likes him. Was it racist? Well only Notre Dame really knows the answer to this one.

The point of all of this is that racism wont go away until people- the majority and the minority quit looking through a pair or racist glasses. If you judge things by whether they are racist or not, the issue of racism won't go away. People like Martin Luther King Jr. were sucessful because they preached inclusion not special treatment or standards. Until people start looking at it that way, we'll never get ahead.

I find it amazing.

2006-01-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

I find it amazing that with all of the technoligical advances we as humans have made over the last 200 years, that we still cannot come up with a safe way to conduct mining operations.

I'm sorry you thought your loved ones had survived.

I'm sorry that they didn't.

The Crown Prince.

2006-01-01T20:09:00.000-06:00

The older I get it seems the more important family is to me. I'm not sure if it's that way for everyone else or not.

I just returned from another trip to Michigan. I went to the same place that I was at 3 weeks ago on my snowmobile trip but I didn't bring any snowmobiles this time. The point of this trip was to visit family members I haven't seen in over 5 years.

I probably over embellish my role in the family, but it is a role that I've noticed myself taking more seriously ever since I moved back home. I'm the #1 son, the #1 nephew, and the #1 grandchild. That's not to say that I'm everyones favorite, just that I was the first on both my mother and father's side of the family. What does that mean? Probably not much, but I guess something I've thought about is that I'm only a few funerals away from becoming the old guy in the family.

On this particular trip the people I visited with are older. Grandparents, great uncles and aunts, etc. Their time left on this planet, in my family, is relatively short. They might be around for another 20 minutes or another 20 years, but I doubt much more than 20 years and some even less. It meant even more to me this time around because I haven't seen most of them in such a long time and a lot of my "visiting" was nothing more than sitting with them after we were finished catching up... because there probably won't be many more chances just to sit and listen to the old stories or just the all around pleasure of being in their company. That doesn't freak me out. Part of life is dying, and I realize that.

Overall it was a great trip. I didn't lose anything or have anything stolen this time, so in that regard it was a success! It was great catching up with the family and I intend to go back again sometime soon, and then again when I have my kids here for the summer.

I came home Friday morning in a nice snowfall so that I could be home in time for a family gathering on my mom's side. Ever since my grandfather died, that side of the family doesn't gather as much as it used to. The only time they really get together now is the weekend after Christmas for a party, so I wanted to make sure that I was there. I've seen all of them since I moved back home, but not a single gathering other than my mom's wedding, and I was too drunk to really catch up on the old times with them.

I guess the point of all of this babble is that I used to not put much thought into family affairs, but it's more important to me these days, and that's not such a bad thing.

It is what it is.

2005-12-25T22:46:00.000-06:00

I've been real lazy about posting lately. I don't have any excuses and I don't make any apologies.

So it turns out that my losses from the trip could be recovered under insurance, but we were advised not to do it for a number of reasons. An early Christmas gift from my mom replaced the jacket, so I'm just out on the camera. I'll replace it eventually.

Christmas started off with some mixed emotions. As most of my (two?) readers know, my kids now live in Germany and it sucks that they aren't here for the holidays. I miss them, and I talked to them on the phone, but I was determined not to let it ruin my Christmas, and it didn't. It's not my fault that they are over there, and as much as I wish I could, I can't change the fact that they are there. I just let them know that they were missed, as I always do, and then we talked about their cool new toys hehe..

I think I'm going back to Michigan in a few days to visit some family and just get out of the general area for a while. I need some new motivation to start off the new year.

P.S.

Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, or whatever else you might celebrate. Hope it was enjoyable!

Mark's series of unfortunate events..

2005-12-12T20:21:00.000-06:00

I'm back from my trip and I have to admit that it was bittersweet. You'll realize why when you read the rest of the post.

Early Thursday morning I met up with my Dad and Uncle and headed up north. The trip up is pretty uneventful, it takes 4 1/2 hours, and I slept a majority of the time.

We arrived at our cabin around noon and unpacked a few necessary things (we brought a lot of food with us). The cabin that we stayed in was outstanding. Our party had 8 men and we all slept comfortably in seperate beds or futons. The interior is all wood, the tile floors are heated, and it included a full kitchen. It also had a full deck overlooking a huge lake. On the grounds there was also a bar and a resturaunt. The cabin only cost $99/night. Divided by 8 people, it was a steal.

There wasn't enough snow to ride directly from our cabins. I'd say there was between 6-8 inches on the ground, but the trails weren't groomed yet and the swamps weren't completely frozen. The great thing about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the lake effect snowbelts. We only had to drive 20 miles north with our trailors to get to an area that had over a foot of snow and usually rode in areas that had between 1 and 2 1/2 feet of snow. We rode the remainder of the day Thursday and were back at the cabins by 8pm. We had a chicken dinner that we cooked up at the cabin.

Friday morning we woke up around 7am and we were riding snowmobiles by 9am. We rode all day Friday and had an absolute blast. No breakdowns or problems of any kind.. that is, until late Friday night/early Saturday morning. We finished riding around 8pm again and had a Ham dinner then proceeded to drink the night away. I went to a local bar with my Dad and a couple of the other guys and it was great! We were in a tiny, tiny hole-in-the-wall bar, but there were at least 50 people in there and there was a DJ over in the corner.

After a 6 pack of beer and 10 or 11 Whiskey-Sour's it was bar time and I went to grab my new jacket off the coat rack as the place was clearing out. My jacket was gone. Someone either mistakenly grabbed it in a drunken daze, or just plain ripped me off. I lost a Columbia jacket, my digital camera, a box of contact lenses, and my snowmobile registration. I even found out where an afterbar party was being held, and went there looking for it, but it's gone.

We checked back with the bar a couple of times on Saturday, but nobody had turned it in. I was pretty bummed out as you might imagine. Not only did I lose my jacket, but I lost the pictures I wanted to share with you. Luckily my uncle had a spare jacket, so I didn't miss out on any riding. The trails were great again and we came back a little earlier, around 5pm to eat. Since the plan was to leave somewhat early on Sunday morning, 4 of us decided to go on one last ride. We headed out from the cabin (it had snowed a couple of inches, so we could ride the shoulder of the road until we got to good trails), and went for a ride. When we left the cabin I must not have completely zipped my pocket because I found out about half way through the trip that my cell phone was missing! This was also the point where we started having problems with my snowmobile and it needed to be towed by another. I was the only one getting a good signal all weekend, so I was the only one carrying a phone but now we couldn't arrange for a truck to come pick us up, so I had to ride double for about an hour, which on today's snowmobiles isn't the most comfortable thing to do.

So, I have no pictures to share with you unfortunately. I spent about $300 on my trip, and lost about $600 worth of items on the trip. The only bright spot so far is that it looks like I'll be able to get my losses covered under our home owners policy. I still can't replace the pictures though..

Oh, yeah my top speed for the weekend was 115mph on an unplowed seasonal rode. The top speed for our group was by my Uncle, with 133mph!

Cookin the books.

2005-12-06T22:47:00.000-06:00

With some creative accounting that doesn't involve a loan shark, a pawn shop, or a cash advance store, I'm happy to report my trip is back on.

Ok, it really isn't all that creative. I just bucked up, saved some pennies and hustled a few extra dollars where I could, plus I've got a tidy little cash job I'm working at the moment.

So, this is probably my last post until Monday or Tuesday. I'll be gone from Thursday morning until Sunday night. Pictures to follow!

Screaming won't help.

2005-12-01T20:25:00.000-06:00

The job.

So about 3 weeks ago I accepted a position working in the warehouse for a local Heating and Air Conditioning company. Things were going well and I was enjoying the work. At times it was physically challanging work, but I can't beat the feeling I get when I know I've put in an honest and hard earned day. It's a much more satisfying feeling than what I used to get working for a couple of Fortune 500 companies, sitting in a cubicle.

My job consists of putting received items away, pulling items from inventory for the Installers, delivering materials to various jobsites, and other general warehouse activites. I had one semi minor/major screw up on day 4, where I mistakenly only pulled half of the required items for a job and the error wasn't discovered until the most inconvenient time possible. I received a minor ass-chewing for that screw up, and vowed not to let it happen again. In hindsight, I think I lost the support of my only coworker at this moment, but I didn't yet know it.

Fast forward to today. It's been snowing all day, the roads are horrible, and I've been out in it all day long, dodging crazy drivers and potential accidents. I arrived back at the shop at 2P.M. and walked inside:

Coworker: (with a smile on his face, and an upbeat tone) I've got bad news Mark, we're gonna let you go.

Me: Let me go? What? for the day?

Coworker: No, I mean for good.

Me:

Coworker:

Me:

Coworker:

Me: Um, ok. How come?

Coworker: It's just not working out. The installers are upset that their deliveries have been incomplete and/or getting the wrong items.

Me: This is the first I've heard of this? When did this come about?

Needless to say I was blindsided with this one. I've never heard this complaint about my work, and the only complaint I've ever heard was directily related to my day 4 snafu. If fact, the installers have gone out of their way to compliment my work. It turns out Coworker was actually my Boss, and the one who I thought was my Boss was actually my one step higher on the foodchain. My Boss never made mention of this "offense" before.

Tomorrow I have to turn in some supplies. More answered will be learned, no matter how uncomfortable things end up getting.

Who terminates an employee after 3 weeks who shows devotion to the company by arriving early (usually an hour prior to shift) and stays late, does every task asked of him, as quickly and as accurately as possible? Things aren't adding up in the semi-white north, and I think I've become the designated fall guy for something.

Scratch my snowmobile trip next week. Won't be able to afford it.

Scratch the laptop I was just about to buy.

Christmas is probably going to be pretty lean, from the giving standpoint.

I'm really not a stalker, I swear.

2005-11-25T20:31:00.000-06:00

Been a pretty busy few days in the semi-white North.

The reason I haven't been posting as much lately is because I've been working as much as humanly possible in order to make up for the holiday, make a little extra cash for Christmas, and my upcoming snowmobile trip.

Thanksgiving was really low key. The only relative that I saw outside of my immediate family was my grandmother. That was ok I guess, but sometimes I miss the days when the whole family would gather around the bird.

On my way to work this morning, the local DJ's were running through the list of celebrity birthdays. If you're a longtime reader here, you'll know who I think the hottest actress is. Today is Christina Applegate's birthday. She's 34 and still married. Dammit.

Random Thought:

Am I the only one who gets half a chubby while watching the Weather Channel? I usually don't watch the weather forecast on any channel, but lately I've been watching it in order to dress appropriately for work and to keep tabs on my upcoming vacation. 9 out 10 women employed the Weather Channel are certified hotties. And don't leave comments denying it.

My balls.

2005-11-18T21:15:00.000-06:00

Since everyone seemed to enjoy it the last time I blogged about my nutties, I thought it would be appropriate to share again.

It's (relatively) cold here. Lows in the teens, wind chills at or below zero.

For the last 8 years I've boasted to friends that I'm a cold weather person. We'd sit on my porch in Texas drinking beers, soaking up the sun and I'd eventually tell them how I missed the cold and snow of Wisconsin. At some point I'd tell them the story about the day that I left for basic training. It was 20 below zero with 40 mph winds and the windchill was somewhere around 70 below zero. That my friends, is cold weather! At that point in time, early in 1997, I was completely comfortable with that sort of weather.

These days I am not :(

I still consider myself a cold weather person, and I'm enjoying the recent snowfall. However, it's my first "real winter" in 8 or so years, and I do have to admit that it's been a little tough. I get cold and stay cold all day. When I get home from work I hop in the shower just to warm up.

I almost forgot.... my balls.. The boys are doing fine, but they are in the Winter Protection Program. Safely hidden somewhere in abdomen. I haven't seem them in a couple of weeks, but I know they are just fine.

Sprigs is still my featured blog. I haven't found anything yet that can knock her off the perch.

Introducing Lynn

2005-11-09T21:32:00.000-06:00

It took me a while to pick a new Featured Blog. As I mentioned in my last post, I contemplated giving up blogging so I really haven't been looking.

I'm really glad that I've found Lynn. Her blog appears to be pretty new, I only see archives to last month, but I don't doubt the quality writing will continue. I don't want to steal any thunder, so you'll have to check it out for yourself.

The Dark Days of Blogging.

2005-11-07T14:25:00.000-06:00

Who in the hell gave the directive to execute Order 66?

A lot of great people have recently given up their niche in the blogger universe, all for valid reasons, but it's still unsettling to me.

When I first started this blog, I wondered if I'd have enough material to make it a worthwhile adventure. It turns out I may not have, as I've been in a creative slump lately. As late as last week I had considered canning my own blog and becoming strictly a commenter. For the last couple of months I've gotten more enjoyment leaving comments about the creative efforts of others than I have from constructing my own work. One reason (maybe the main reason) I decided to stick it out, is because others were also deleting their blogs, and I don't like being part of the crowd.

Just to be clear, I don't think other people were deleting blogs because it was fashionable, they all have good, personal reasons for discontinuing, and some just needed a couple of days off and are now back at it. But I wonder what people's expectations of blog authors are? I'm 27 years old, and single. My life affords me the time to blog if I chose to. Some day things in my life could change. Does anyone expect me to blog until the day that I die? Should blogs run a couple of months? Years? Decades? I would think that at some point we will all run out of meaningful things to say, at least at the quality that we want to say them.

At what point do we have an obligation to our readers? Maybe we don't have any obligation but force ourselves to think that we do? I think I've seen every possible emotion from various readers out there when blogs are shut down. Some are sad for selfish reasons, some are sad for the author, some are concerned, some make jokes, some even get pissed. I think to a degree those are all perfectly appropriate feelings to have, but it also shows why authors get burned out. Even if you create a blog with no intent to serve a viewing audience, at some point you almost feel compelled because of the comments you receive, the sheer number of people that find you. All of that creates pressure. Maybe we, as readers, put too much pressure on our favorite authors to keep up the good work?

It seems like a lot of good blogs are disappearing lately. Hopefully they come back, and hopefully us as readers will be more understanding if our favorite author calls a time out, requesting a break from the action.

Dammit George

2005-11-01T19:33:00.000-06:00

Those who know me know that I'm a mild Star Wars fanboy. I don't sit around in a Darth Vader costume or anything like that, but I do enjoy the movies. When Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith arrived in theaters, I always intended to see it, but I never got around to it. I've been waiting for today pretty uch all summer because I wanted to buy the DVD and watch it immediately.

I did watch the movie, and overall I did like it with the exception of two things:

1. It seems that Anakin went from "that's not the Jedi way" to "Sure, I'll kill kids" too quickly. I didn't like the timing on that, and thought they should have showed more internal conflict.

2. In the scene where the Emperor tells Vadar that he's responsible for Padme's death and he breaks himself off of the table and screams, I immediately thought of Frankenstein. I realize he's supposed to be recoverring from massive burns, but his stilted walking looked funny, and I didn't like it.

Like I said, overall I enjoyed the movie, and I'll probably watch it again soon looking for things I missed the first time.

Tonight I sucked AND blew!

2005-10-30T01:30:00.000-06:00

Drunk post, yay!

So, racing today. Didn't do as good as I'd have liked, but managed to pull out a 3rd place finish. Pitchers, I mean pictures fo ffollow later.

ASbout a 12 pack later I'm sitting at the bar and I'm told I have to suck and blow. If I was marriedman, I'd probably have gotten excited, but since I"m not, I was sort of leery. Turns out suck and blow is a to either suck a jello shot out of a tube, or blow it into someone else's motuh. Of course, I opted to suck.

Time for berd!!

If I ever move abroad, you can find me here.

2005-10-26T19:54:00.000-05:00

Most people that know my full first and last name think that I'm Italian. I'm always quick (and proud) to inform people that I'm not Italian, and that I'm actually Finnish. I usually get a few strange looks from the geographically challanged, and then I have to explain where it is. Some of the people that do know where it is chuckle under their breath, and I can almost hear them thinking "what's so great about that?". Every once in a while I'll come across an article that helps explain why I'm proud of my heritage:

Finn facts Click here for the Yahoo article.

Land of Nokia. (You mean it's not Japanese?!?!) The world's No. 1 cellphone maker is based in Finland. It holds 32 percent of the global cellphone market. Nokia started in 1865 as a forest industry company on the banks of the Nokia River. Today, it employs more than 60,000 people (about 24,000 in Finland) with factories in 10 countries and research and development facilities in 15 countries.

Nokia's share of Finland's:
GDP 4% Business sector R&D 35% Exports 25% CEO Jeremy Ollila's yearly pay: $4.64 million

Upwardly mobile society. In 1998, when some Americans were still getting funny looks for using cellphones, mobile subscribers in Finland already outnumbered land-line subscribers. In fact, 20 percent of households relied solely on cellphone service.

No censorship here. Reporters Without Borders ranks Finland (and several other countries) No. 1 for freedom of the press. The US ranks 22nd.

Speeding is expensive. A 27-year-old Finnish heir to a sausage business, Jussi Salonoja, was famously fined 170,000 euros (about $217,000 at the time) for going 80 kilometers per hour in a 40 kph zone. Speeding fines are based on the offender's income. Mr. Salonoja's reported earnings for 2002 were 7 million euros.

Linux is from where? The open-source operating system was started in 1991 as a hobby by Finnish university student Linus Torvalds. But he wasn't the only entrepreneurial student: In 1992 (before Netscape came along), IT students at the Helsinki University of Technology developed the first graphic-based Internet browser.

Where Santa's sleigh garages. The residents Mt. Korvatunturi - in the northern part of Finland known as Lapland - claim this is the home of Santa Claus. Some 600,000 letters a year are sent there in the hope that it's true.

One fact that I know, that wasn't in the article, Finland is the only country from WWII to repay their war debt to the United States, and they paid it off early.

The article goes on to describe Finland's very high taxes. As my regular readers know, I'm pretty much a tax cut's kind of guy, but I wouldn't mind the government taking my money if I knew they were going to take care of me like the Finnish folks are.

Some interesting tax facts:

The government will pay a mother 60 percent of her salary to look after her baby for the first year.

When the mother does go back to work full time, the government will pay 4/5 of daycare expenses.

If you lose your job, you count on unemployment benefits that range up to 70 percent of their salaries for 18 months. And when they retire they can look forward to generous pensions that amount, for the average Finn, to 60 percent of their last salary.

Government pays your college tuition.

What you're not likely to hear on the nightly news..

2005-10-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

From 365 and a Wakeup:

Last night a grain of hot metal tumbled through the air, a swift manmade meteor crashing through the heavens. The statistical chances of this solitary round impacting one the scattered buildings was negligible, and the chances of it actually injuring someone were almost infinitesimal. But in stark defiance to all known laws of probability, this small sliver of dead steel plummeted downward, downward, downward… until its path intersected a house. And then it continued on, tunneling its way into a little girl sitting down for the celebration of Ishtar.

You'll have to read the rest of the post here to learn why the average Iraqi is quite glad we decided to liberate them, and even more glad we have continued to stay.

Featured Blog.

2005-10-21T00:26:00.000-05:00

Something I've been planning to do for a while is to feature a blog each week. It may be a blog that's already listed in the "Blogs I read" section, or it might be one that I've just found. I don't really have any criteria for this weekly feature. It might be for the entire blog, or it might be because of a particular post. The Featured Blog will also get a seperate section on the sidebar until a new blog is picked.

This week's Featured Blog is A new life; same as the old life? For those that are familiar with it, you'll know it's Gordy's blog. I didn't choose Gordy as my featured Blogger because we met and I had drinks with him. I chose him because he blogged about his trip to my area.

A lot of us locals don't necessarily appreciate what we have, since we see it everyday. Since I moved away for about 10 years and have recently moved back, I see what newcomers see, and frankly I'm proud of where I live. When people around the country think about family vacations or couples getaways, you'll typically think of places like Cancun, Disney World, Cruise Boats, etc. I think everyone should consider coming to my area, Door County. I won't say that you can spend a week up this way without spending some money, but I'm pretty sure you'd spend less than you would at some of the more known tourist traps around the world.

Gordy has a great post about his trip to the great north, and I hope you read it.

Bloggers and Beer!

2005-10-18T20:33:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is the picture of Gordy, Lorraine, and I:

I'm Inspired.

2005-10-17T13:19:00.000-05:00

Earlier today I used 90% of my remaining brain power to create a new post. Since the standards are pretty low around here, I was quite proud of my new post and I decided to see if anyone had bothered to comment on it. Sure enough, someone had taken the time to leave a note. No real suprise, it was just some comment spam. Luckily for me this spam led to an actual website, not another blog.

Guess who just signed up for animal porn? info@onlinewebsolutions.com !

Guess who left a post on Usenet requesting child porn? info@onlinewebsolutions.com !

Guess what contact info will get randomly posted anywhere I see fit? info@onlinewebsolutions.com and 404-303-7350!

Guess which phone number will go on all spam marketing requests I get in my inbox? 404-303-7350!

Guess who just signed up for fax machine contests? 404-255-2163

Guess who is getting new magazine subscriptions with the "bill me later" option?

Online Web Solutions
175 W. Wieuca Road, Suite 239
Atlanta, GA. 30342

Maybe they will learn to market their crap in less annoying places.. but I doubt it.

Home Sweet Home.

2005-10-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. It certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long because I really haven't been all that busy. I guess I've just been lazy.

I'm still trying to figure out what my next move will be for work. I'm sort of laid off until January, and that doesn't sit well with my wallet. I'm not too worried about it though, things always seem to work out in the end. There is a possibility that I might get a second chance at the nuke plant job I missed out on a few months ago. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Friday night Gordy and his girlfriend were up in my neck of the woods, and me managed to get together for dinner and a couple of beers. It's always great to meet up with people you've conversed with on the net, and I'm glad I didn't miss out. Gordy and Lorraine are some pretty cool people. He should have a couple of pictures up on his blog in a few days. I'll put them up here as well.

Saturday was spent doing a little racing. This race is one that we do every year, but it's not part of the circuit that we run. It would be considered an exhibition I guess. We did well though, finishing with five 1st's and one 2nd. Here is a picture of us winning a race:

Here is the name of the place we raced at. All you can do is shake your head.

Change in the Wind!

2005-10-10T18:20:00.000-05:00

Alrighty folks. I'm back from my roadtrip and I've decided to make some changes to the blog, starting with a new and unoriginal template. My plan is to go with a cleaner, simpler layout. The google ads are gone, the Bravenet code is gone, and for the moment all of your blogs aren't linked. I will be adding them back in soon, they might even be back in there by the time you get around to reading this.

Temptation.

2005-10-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

One of the nice things about the work I was doing is that pretty much all expenses were paid for, and what I did have to pay for on my own was almost always covered by the daily allowance they gave us.

I need to make a major purchase here pretty soon, so I have to fight the impulse to blow money on things like a shiny new laptop. The computer I'm using is on it's last leg. I could use a new one, and why not make it a laptop? If I do have to go back on the road in a few months, at least I'd be able to keep up with my blog a whole lot better. I'm sure if I dig around a little I could probably find a better price, but a 15.4" screen, DVD burner, integrated wireless, a Centrino processor, 80GB hard drive, and 512MB of DDR RAM for $929 isn't too bad. I'm not really a gamer, so the lack of a strong video card doesn't really bother me. I just need an all around decent computer for communication, my blog, and some bookkeeping. This would do just the trick.

Too bad I'll be a good boy and pass on this offer.

My trip

2005-10-10T17:38:00.000-05:00

My trip around the southeast is done for time being. As I've previously mentioned, there hasn't been any fun stories to relate. My days consisted of getting up early, working at a particular jobsite, driving to the next jobsite, finding a hotel, and relaxing until I fell asleep. Instead of going out I spent most of my downtime reading or watching Adult Swim on the cartoon network. To paraphrase Digi, my life is more fabulous than yours!

I'm a non-fiction reader for the most part. I enjoy biographies in particular, but on this trip I read 3 different books. Some nights I only got to read a few pages, and other nights a few chapters.

The first book I read was "The Interrogators: Task Force 500 and America's Secret War Against Al Qaeda" by Chris Mackey. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, especially those who wrongly think that all we do with prisoners is stand them on boxes, make them simulate oral sex on each other, and make them assemble into human pyramids. This book will tell you the real story of U.S. Army interrogation tactics.

The Second book that I read is one that I haven't actually completed yet because it's a very slow read. I wouldn't recommend 1776 to anyone unless they are a history buff who enjoys reading about the Revolutionary War. I like the book so far, it's just hard to keep at it.

The Third book that I read was "Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw" This book was written by Mark Bowden. He was the author of the book "Black Hawk Down" from which the movie was made. Killing Pablo is also a documentry that airs on the History Channel occasionally, but I'm hoping they eventually make a major motion picture out of this story. The life of Pablo Escobar is pretty fascinating and his eventual death provides a good storyline.

A Quick Update.

2005-10-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

My apologies for not updating the blog. The last week and a half or so has been real hectic!

At the end of last week I was in Charlotte, North Carolina. I flew home friday night and didn't get home until 1 AM or so. Then I had to get up early and drive the 3 hours to Wausau, WI for the snowmobile races that we were entered in. Then I had to drive home Sunday afternoon, do some laundry, repack, and catch an early flight Monday morning back to Charlotte. Most of this week has been spent in Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. Tonight I'm in Atlanta wrapping up a few sites that didn't have all the materials the last time we were here, then it's off to Tulsa, OK to do the same thing.

After all of that we get to drive home! I can't wait to spend a few days at home enjoying the cooler weather, turning leaves, and people without accents.

An uninvited guest.

2005-09-24T23:22:00.000-05:00

Rita is here. Here being Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Fortunately for us, she's coming into town as a mild storm. No lightning, no thunder. There have been an occasional tornado watch, but not much in the way of wind or large down amounts of rain. By the time I wake up in the morning it should all be done.

In other, more joyous news my Badgers beat Michigan today! Final Score 23-20. Wisconsin hasn't beaten Michigan since 1994 so that's huge for us Badger fans. Hopefully we can keep it up and avoid another late season meltdown.

Cowboy Up.

2005-09-21T20:30:00.000-05:00

Things are going ok, but nothing funny to report unfortunately. Last night I was in Little Rock, Arkansas which is a busier town than I had expected. Tonight I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tomorrow I think we head for Ft. Smith, Arkansas on our way back to the east coast. We'll be heading back to Tennesse and North Carolina.

Just in time too, with Rita and all..

***Edit***

I've lost 12.762 pounds today. I have a rash on my balls from dragging them on the ground. It's hot (around 100 F). It's humid (around 100%) and I just cracked open a Bud..

If I die, say nice things about me.. even if they aren't true.

2005-09-18T00:17:00.000-05:00

Work has been pretty good for the most part.

Currently I'm home for a few days but I'll be heading to Mississippi and Oklahoma when I return. The last 2 weeks have been spent in the Atlanta area and Alabama. Good hotels are getting harder to come by the further west and south we go, because of Hurricane Katrina. The clerks tell you that there are a lot of business travelers and that's why they are full, but when you look in the lobby it'll have an extended family eating Cajun potluck which means they are displaced residents. It's interesting that the hotels won't tell you that though. Perhaps they are afraid of some sort of backlash? I've seen a few hotels that are taking the opposite approach and saving 10 rooms only for displaced people. The whole experience has been surreal. I've met a lot of FEMA folks along the way too. I feel sorry for them, with such an impossible job at hand.

Now to the part where I may or may not die and you are required to say nice things:

Friday afternoon I flew out of Memphis, TN and that went as smoothly as air transportation can go these days. I flew to Milwaukee, WI and then a rental car courtesy of Hertz, and I was home. The minute I get home, I got on the internet because I haven't been able to for almost a week and I come across a news story where the feds arrested an Egyptian going to school in Memphis. In his apartment was a pilot's uniform, maps of the airport, videos on how to fly via GPS, etc. They only arrested one man. How much would you like to bet there are others in a cell that hasn't been captured?

Friday Grumblings

2005-09-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

Friday is here and I'm still in the Atlanta area. Conyers, GA to be exact. My partner and I had set things up so that we would be off around 2P.M. with nothing but freedom for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.

This Saturday is going to be probably the best weekend for college football for the next two months and we were both looking forward to some beer and television. Then our boss called to let us know that we have to go back to all 8 stores we've worked in this week to put out some equipment that didn't get shipped on time.

There goes our Saturday!

The thing that sucks most is that the equipment that we have to set up is the easiest part, and the maintenance people in the stores could easily do this, but we have to go to each store and have the manager sign off on it. We'll end up putting on 200 miles driving around the greater Atlanta area tomorrow instead of drinking suds and watching football. At least I get paid for the work I do, plus the miles I drive.

Our boss also seems to think it's a great idea to drive back to Knoxville to finish the stores we did last week before driving to Alabama. I can almost spit and hit Alabama from where I'm at now, and he wants us to drive further north to get to our southern destination.

Ugh!